Latest news released by multiple departments regarding social assistance and elderly meal assistance!

● For low-income people who meet the conditions Assistance should be provided to all eligible individuals ，No large-scale return to poverty should occur, ensuring that the basic living needs of people in difficulty are guaranteed.

● In terms of financial assistance for students from economically disadvantaged families, efforts should be made to achieve "three improvements". Systematically guarantee that no student should drop out of school due to economic hardship 。

● In terms of ensuring that children of school age complete compulsory education, firmly uphold "two bottom lines". Firstly, uphold the bottom line of no school dropout . Secondly, uphold the bottom line of special care for special groups.

● Focus on enhancing the inclusiveness of elderly meal assistance services. Local governments can adopt differentiated policies based on the different circumstances of the elderly, combining local economic development levels and financial conditions, providing differentiated subsidies 。

● Currently, 18 provinces nationwide have fully launched this elderly meal assistance service.

● Through the joint participation of government, market, society, family, and individuals, jointly build a shared elderly meal assistance service framework.

Assistance should be provided to all eligible low-income individuals

Based on the previous "Interim Measures for Social Assistance" and the Central Committee and State Council's "Opinions on Reforming and Improving the Social Assistance System", the "Opinions" have been expanded and deepened, mainly in several aspects:

First, strengthen dynamic monitoring. To improve the tiered and classified social assistance system, we must first identify the low-income population in need of assistance and support, and include them in the dynamic monitoring system. In addition to opening up channels for low-income individuals to self-report , we must also leverage inter-departmental "big data matching" and the "boots-on-the-ground" efforts of grassroots workers big data comparison " and grassroots workers " grassroots investigation " to conduct door-to-door surveys, combining online and offline methods to promptly and proactively identify people in need of assistance. The "Opinions" propose, improving the dynamic monitoring information platform and database for low-income populations 。 online , coordinating with relevant departments to break down data barriers, sharing data, identifying difficulties and risks through data comparison, and issuing warnings; offline , relying on grassroots workers to regularly visit and identify people in difficulty and verify early warning information about difficulties and risks. An "assistance chain for each household" is formed in the information platform to avoid omissions or duplication of assistance.

Second, do a good job in tiered and classified assistance. Since the difficulties and situations of low-income people vary, some face basic living problems, while others face practical difficulties in medical care, housing, children's education, and employment. This requires deepening reforms to further enhance the targeted nature and precision of assistance. The "Opinions" classify low-income populations according to the severity of their difficulties, provide targeted assistance and support measures according to the type of difficulty , fully leveraging the role and potential of special assistance programs in medical care, education, housing, and employment, further expanding the scope of special assistance from low-income households and people in special difficulty to low-income marginal families and families with rigid expenditure difficulties, further expanding the scope of assistance, forming a tiered slope ", achieving that with low-income assistance, all policies are available. Without meeting the low-income conditions, although relatively difficult, various assistance policies are not enjoyed, forming a steep slope. After expanding the scope, the "tiered slope" can achieve precise coverage of special social assistance.

Third, ensure that assistance is provided to all eligible individuals . Social assistance involves many departments, requiring each department to perform its duties, assume responsibilities, and work together to truly form a large-scale assistance framework. The "Opinions" further clarify departmental responsibilities, leverage inter-departmental coordination mechanisms, promptly resolve problems encountered in social assistance work, and form a joint force. At the same time, it is required that local governments strengthen organizational implementation, ensure that various policies and measures are implemented, and also fully leverage the role of social forces, provide assistance to all eligible low-income individuals, prevent large-scale return to poverty, and ensure that the basic living needs of people in difficulty are guaranteed 。

Systematically guarantee that no student should drop out of school due to economic hardship

In terms of financial assistance for students from economically disadvantaged families, efforts should be made to achieve "three improvements".

First, improve coverage , forming a student assistance system led by the government with active participation from schools and society, achieving "three full coverages". The first full coverage is from preschool education to postgraduate education, covering all levels of education. The second full coverage is public and private schools. The third full coverage is all students from economically disadvantaged families. Therefore, three full coverages ”，第一个全覆盖是从学前教育到研究生教育，所有学段全覆盖。第二个全覆盖是公办学校、民办学校全覆盖。第三个全覆盖是家庭经济困难学生全覆盖。从而 Systematically guarantee that no student should drop out of school due to economic hardship 。

Second, improve accuracy , establish an inter-departmental information matching mechanism, and include registered and filed, low-income, people in special difficulty, low-income marginal families, families with rigid expenditure difficulties, orphans, and disabled students in the scope of assistance to ensure that students with special difficulties receive assistance.

Third, improve the assistance standards , based on the requirements of economic and social development and the effective connection between consolidating and expanding the achievements of poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, establish a dynamic adjustment mechanism for assistance standards and gradually increase the assistance standards at various levels of education 。According to preliminary statistics, In 2022, a total of 292.273 billion yuan was provided in nationwide funding, benefiting a total of 161 million students. 。

Upholding the bottom lines of preventing school dropouts and providing special care for vulnerable groups.

Regarding the completion of compulsory education for children of school age, resolutely upholding the two bottom lines ”。 First, upholding the bottom line of preventing school dropouts Regularly comparing information from the student registration system with population database information, and conducting targeted campaigns to prevent school dropouts before and after the start of each semester. This involves identifying the reasons for students dropping out and increasing support to ensure that dropout students can be found, persuaded to return, and retained. Second, upholding the bottom line of providing special care for vulnerable groups Regarding the issue of ensuring access to education for students with disabilities among vulnerable groups, the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the development and improvement of special education is being implemented to bring more children with disabilities into the special education system, and to increase the per-student public expenditure for special education to 7,000 yuan , which is 7 to 10 times that of ordinary students, In 2022, the enrollment rate of school-age children with disabilities exceeded 96%. 。

Effectively ensuring the funding needs for basic living assistance, emergency social assistance, and special social assistance.

Next steps: The finance department will focus on the following three areas based on the requirements of the Opinions.

First, ensuring funding needs. Assistance for people in difficulty is a fiscal responsibility shared by the central and local governments. We will reasonably divide the expenditure responsibilities between central and local finances, further improve the funding guarantee mechanism, increase investment, and effectively ensure the funding needs for basic living assistance, emergency social assistance, and special social assistance , ensuring that all assistance policies are implemented.

Second, improving the effectiveness of assistance. Local finance departments should cooperate with the relevant departments at the same level, such as the civil affairs departments, to refine the conditions, standards, and scope of each assistance policy based on the local economic development level and financial conditions, ensuring that the assistance targets are accurate, the standards are reasonable, and the level is appropriate.

Third, ensuring fund safety Strengthening financial and accounting supervision, strictly regulating the allocation, disbursement, management, use, and evaluation of assistance funds, implementing full-chain, comprehensive, and full-process supervision of assistance funds, severely rectifying violations such as defrauding, embezzling, and misappropriating assistance funds, and effectively safeguarding fund safety.

Local governments can adopt differentiated policies and provide differentiated subsidies to senior citizens who receive meal assistance.

The Action Plan addresses the practical difficulties of senior citizen meal assistance services, clarifying relevant policies and measures to ensure they are targeted, operational, and effective.

First, focusing on enhancing the accessibility of senior citizen meal assistance services. Clearly aiming to cover senior citizens with a need for meal assistance services, optimizing the layout according to the 15-minute elderly care service circle and 15-minute convenient service circle in cities, combining the use of existing resources with the appropriate construction of new facilities as needed, promoting the improvement of the senior citizen meal assistance service network . Supporting the expansion of senior citizen meal assistance services in various elderly care institutions and facilities, and community comprehensive service facilities; encouraging and guiding catering companies, property service companies, and qualified government agencies and enterprises to actively participate in various ways; supporting the use of setting up centralized distribution points to facilitate food delivery.

Second, focusing on enhancing the inclusiveness of senior citizen meal assistance services. Clearly adhering to paid services, not free services. Local governments can adopt differentiated policies based on the different situations of senior citizens, combining local economic development levels and financial conditions, providing differentiated subsidies to senior citizens who receive meal assistance . Increasing efforts to provide meal assistance services to senior citizens with special difficulties, encouraging senior citizen meal assistance institutions to provide preferential services to senior citizens with special difficulties; at the same time, guiding the use of market-oriented means to meet the diverse and personalized meal assistance needs of other senior citizen groups by providing support and preferential policies to suppliers to reduce meal assistance costs and promote inclusive services. ，通过给予供给主体支持优惠政策等方式，降低助餐成本，推动服务普惠。

Third, focusing on enhancing the safety and reliability of senior citizen meal assistance services . Requiring local governments to formulate senior citizen meal assistance service standards based on actual conditions, ensuring nutritional and healthy meals and continuous and stable supply , improving intelligent and convenient service methods, and cultivating high-quality service brands; at the same time, strengthening quality and safety supervision, implementing food safety responsibilities, strengthening joint inspections by departments, strengthening the responsibilities of business entities, ensuring food safety and production safety at service venues , strengthening personal safety and fire safety management during services, preventing various safety risks, and allowing senior citizens to eat well and with peace of mind.

Fourth, focusing on enhancing the sustainability of senior citizen meal assistance services. The document proposes "Individuals contribute a little, enterprises contribute a little, the government subsidizes a little, collectives add a little, and society donates a little" , establishing a mechanism for diversified funding, multi-party support, and risk sharing; at the same time, encouraging local governments to improve relevant preferential support policies in terms of facilities and venues, fiscal investment, tax reductions and exemptions, and human resources , ensuring the appropriate profitability of suppliers, addressing the problems of unstable demand for senior citizen meal assistance and difficulties in continuous operation, and preventing a rush of enthusiasm followed by a decline, ensuring the sustainability of meal assistance services.

The central government will allocate a certain amount of guiding funds to provide appropriate subsidies to local governments.

Next, the finance department will support the development of elderly meal assistance services in the following three ways.

First, actively raise funds to support elderly meal assistance services. Local finance departments at all levels should comprehensively consider factors such as work progress and financial conditions, and actively raise funds to support elderly meal assistance services. The central government will allocate certain guiding funds to provide appropriate subsidies to local governments. At the same time, all localities should fully leverage the market mechanism, adhering to the principle of doing what we can and doing it within our means, to ensure the sustainability of meal assistance services and fiscal affordability.

Second, refine subsidy policies and provide precise subsidies based on categories. Local finance departments at all levels should, in accordance with the requirements of the "Plan," formulate subsidy policies that are suitable for local conditions and the characteristics of meal assistance models . differentiated subsidies 。

For the elderly who need meal assistance, subsidies can be provided based on different conditions such as disability level and economic hardship. Third, strengthen financial supervision and improve the efficiency of fund use. Local finance departments at all levels should strictly implement the relevant regulations on budget management and centralized treasury payments, and effectively strengthen supervision and management of various aspects of subsidy fund allocation, disbursement, and use

.

Eighteen provinces across the country have already fully implemented elderly meal assistance services.

Next, guidance will focus on the following four aspects to ensure effective implementation. First, steadily and orderly promote the program based on local conditions.

Currently, 18 provinces across the country have fully implemented this elderly meal assistance service.

Second, focus on shortcomings and weaknesses and implement targeted measures.

Third, adopt flexible and diverse innovative service methods. Fourth, coordinate efforts from multiple parties to form a collaborative force.